This is a pretty good raw puerh. It was only somewhat bitter at the start with notes of apricots and stonefruits throughout all twelve steeps I gave this. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste to it. I couldn’t really taste the bamboo one way or the other, I don’t know if this is good or bad mind you. It was extremely well compressed. It took several steeps for this to open up and brew correctly. I liked this puerh.
I brewed this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. It would have gone a few more steeps not sure how many. I didn’t get much qi off of this.
Flavors: Apricot, Bitter, Stonefruit, Sweet
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I have this one, and had an extremely similar impression. For me it wasn’t bitter the first few steeps, it was only the middle few. Since I’m still new to brewing up raw pu-erh, I thought that it was something I was doing wrong. I tried different Temps and times. I guess the bitterness is just part of the package…
Most raw puerh has some bitterness. You get used to it after a while.
I’m accustomed to the bitterness in black/green/oolong, and how to minimize or balance it. But the raw pu-erh bitterness is very different for me, so I guess it caught me off guard.
You can try brewing at a lower temperature but I think that raw puerh is just naturally bitter sometimes.
Haha. Good call. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing! I’ve been brewing at way lower temperature than “recommended”.
I have this one, and had an extremely similar impression. For me it wasn’t bitter the first few steeps, it was only the middle few. Since I’m still new to brewing up raw pu-erh, I thought that it was something I was doing wrong. I tried different Temps and times. I guess the bitterness is just part of the package…
Most raw puerh has some bitterness. You get used to it after a while.
I’m accustomed to the bitterness in black/green/oolong, and how to minimize or balance it. But the raw pu-erh bitterness is very different for me, so I guess it caught me off guard.
You can try brewing at a lower temperature but I think that raw puerh is just naturally bitter sometimes.
Haha. Good call. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing! I’ve been brewing at way lower temperature than “recommended”.